[Distutils] Windows installer.

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Michel Van den Bergh wrote:
> 
> >
> > > An application will typically be installed in "C:\Program Files".
> > > Furthermore the user will   expect a desktop shortcut, a start menu
> > > entry and an uninstall program. The current windows installer does not
> > > seem to be capable of installing, let alone generating such things.
> >
> > I have come up with the same conclusion for Narval
> > (http://www.logilab.org/narval -- I know, this is a shameless plug ;o)
> >
> > > I noticed that there exists a free (as in free speech) installer for
> > > Windows: http://www.nullsoft.com/free/nsis/ which seems to be very
> > > capable. So it would be sensible to have an option "bdist_nsis" and I am
> > > considering writing such a thing.
> >
> > I have not looked at this installer. What we use at Logilab is Inno Setup,
> > which comes with an open source license too (it sounds BSD-ish, but
> > I'm not a license expert). It is very easy to use, and does a good work.
> > The URL is http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.htm
> >
> > Alexandre Fayolle
> > --
> > http://www.logilab.com
> > Narval is the first software agent available as free software (GPL).
> > LOGILAB, Paris (France).
> >
> I looked at Inno Setup. It is indeed very good and it comes with a BSD style
> licence.
> 
> I was able to create a professional looking installer in 10 minutes.  It seems
> very easy to create the installation script
> automatically by modifying bdist_dump a little bit. bdist_dump basically does a
> mock install to the build directory and then packs
> the result. Instead of packing the result one should make an installation
> script listing the files which were created by the mock
> install.  Then Inno setup should be invoked.
> 
> Bdist_inno could have a few options such as the name of the licence file, the
> name of the readme file, the name of the
> main script (to create shortcuts on the Desktop and in the Start Menu), the
> default install location and the path of the executable for the Inno setup
> application.
> 
> When I find some time I will look into this.

The installer looks very promising -- does anyone know how it compares
to the WISE installer which is free for Python extensions ?

Also, are there projects out there for Windows like installers
on other platforms such as Mac, Linux and other Unices ?

(RPMs are nice for experts, but they simply don't match up to the
user friendlyness of Windows installers.)

Thanks,
-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
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